All through elementary, middle and high school, I was a packer. My mom primarily (sometimes with my help) would pack my school lunch everyday. My tastes certainly weren’t as sophisticated then as they are now - but it was clear to me even then that corn dogs, pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, and honeybuns (the crap they served at school) weren’t my idea of a desirable, much less palatable lunch.

The school lunch programs across the country need change - serious change. It inspires me to see people who are starting to make that happen. Ann Cooper, the director of the school lunch program in the Berkley school district, has made some big strides towards changing the way children learn about food and what they eat in school. She spoke at the TED Conference last year and her presentation was just recently published on their site. Check it out for an inspiring, more in depth look at the state of the school lunch programs and some of the ways she’s changing it for the better.